The 26th Ezra Pound International Conference will be held 7-11 July 2015 at Brunnenburg, Dorf Tirol, Merano, Italy, a stunning castle perched on a mountainside above the Alto Adige River and residence of Pound’s daughter, Mary de Rachewiltz, since 1948 when she and her husband, Boris de Rachewiltz, began to restore it. Nearby sits Schloss Tirol, one of the oldest extant castles in Europe, where Mary’s son, Siegfried de Rachewiltz, served as Curator and Director for many years, transforming the castle into a magnificent museum of Tyrolean history and culture. In addition to four days of papers and panels on Pound and the Green World, as well as other topics related to Pound, special events tentatively planned include tours of Brunnenburg (with its implements of Tyrolean agriculture, the Pound Room, and African artefacts collected by Boris de Rachewiltz) and Schloss Tirol, excursions above and near Dorf Tirol, musical soirées, the always popular EPIC banquet (honoring Mary de Rachewiltz’s birthday), and a post-conference excursion to Gais, where Mary was raised.

The EPIC committee invites proposals for papers addressing the main theme of the conference or any other pertinent Poundian topic. The committee particularly encourages papers on the nature-related portions of The Cantos, as well as of other Pound works. “The plan is in nature” (99/707) asserted Pound. He earlier considered usury as a “sin against nature” (45/229), destroying the “abundance of nature” (52/257). In Canto 71 we read: “Nor has nature nor has art partitioned the sea into empires / or into counties or knight’s fees” (71/419). Apart from these social and political implications, The Cantos also point to the philosophical ones, especially in:

“We have”, said Mencius, “but phenomena.”

monumenta. In nature are signatures

needing no verbal tradition (87/593)

And Canto 93 begins with a line in Egyptian hieroglyphs Pound first learned from Boris de Rachewiltz: “‘A man’s paradise is his good nature’/sd/Kati.” Proposals may interpret the conference theme in specific or broad terms, relating to Pound’s work and life: poetry, prose, translations, textual analysis, biography, comparative studies, literary or political influence, legacy, and/or historical matters.

If you are interested in giving a paper, please send a short proposal (250-400 words).Emailed proposals (as Word Attachment or as email text), as well as those sent by surface mail, are acceptable. Please include your paper title, name(s) and affiliation(s), mailing address, and email address on the proposal. Presentations should be limited to 20 minutes delivery time.